Reviews and Recipes!

*I was not paid for this review! I received this product free of charge for my honest opinion!

I'm not a big purse type of gal, I always find them getting in my way somehow. I occasionally like wearing a fanny pack when we go on daytrips to places though since they're more convenient and secure. Say you have to go on a roller coaster- you can't take your purse and you have to leave it unsupervised somewhere. You CAN take a fanny pack with you though. But let's face it, fanny packs are considered dorky and outdated by most people. Well not this one! This leather fanny pack is actually very stylish and edgy! I don't mind being seen in public wearing it!

The Hybrid Hip Fanny pack is made of a luxurious full grain black leather with hand stitched white threading. The stitching is very precise, tight and durable and will last a very long time. The fully adjustable waist belt fits waists from 30" to 40" and can also double as a shoulder strap if you'd prefer. The easy pull zippers are of really nice quality, they're not the cheapie ones that get put out there nowadays. The toggle fastener on one pocket is very strong and made of quality metal as well. There is one large pocket which measures about 10 inches long and will easily carry larger travel items. The two smaller compartments measure 4x5" and fit a cell phone or wallet perfectly.
The whole fanny pack measures 10" long, 6.5" high and 1" deep. It can carry all your essential items and still not be too bulky. I love the stylish, modern look of this pack and it is great for either men or women. I absolutely love the genuine leather smell that comes with it! The texture is very smooth and pleasant to the touch and you can tell that it really is genuine leather!
If you'd like a high quality, stylish alternative to a purse too, you can get one here:
http://www.amazon.com/Hybrid-Hip-Leather-Mobile-Accessories/dp/B0143WML0C/ref=sr_1_3?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1454016015&sr=1-3&keywords=leather+fanny+pack+hip

*I was not paid for this review! I received this product free of charge for my honest opinion!

Ok, I LOVE pillows! I can't sleep without at least 6 of my favorite pillows tucked in all the right places. I even have select pillows that my husband knows he better not try to snag or I'll make him give them up. Even though I have all these pillows, I would still never have the correct support for my head and would wake up with cricks in my necks. It's be so irritating to have my whole entire body at the peak of ultimate comfort, yet my head would be moving around trying to get comfortable. This wonderful pillow has solved all my neck problems and I've been getting the best sleep I have in years with it!

The memory foam pillow surprised me whenever I opened the box. The pillow was rolled up into a very small bundle. I opened it up and it rolled out into a flat bundle. OK, I was kinda skeptical- did I get a dank pillow? Well I fluffed it a little bit and let it sit and absorb air and within 10-15 minutes, it was a perfectly formed, huge fluffy pillow! It was actually really neat how it transformed like that! The pillow is made of shredded memory foam and is THE most comfortable pillow I've ever used! It cradles my head and neck perfectly and doesn't have any of those annoying lumps other pillows get. I really have been getting way better nights of sleep since I started using it last week! This pillow is amazing, and I won't even let my husband look sideways at it! It's mine! LOL
If you'd like the most comfortable pillow ever, you can get one here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OI3V5W2/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00OI3V5W2&linkCode=as2&tag=tomoson02-20&linkId=BW43ML24BYQTGUO2

* I was not paid for this review! I received this product free of charge for my honest opinion!

My son has a playhouse out back that we love to go hang out in. It's become a little weekend tradition if the weather is night, we'll go watch a little movie or some cartoon episodes and have some popcorn while we snuggle in sleeping bags. We only had a small overhead light in it, and desperately needed some more soft lighting. These Oakleaf LED String lights were the absolute perfect solution!

The Oakleaf LED lights come in a nice tiny package that would be a perfect surprise gift for anybody! The lights are made of a waterproof copper wire that is completely safe to touch even after 15 hours of continuous use. The copper wire is extremely flexible and easy to shape into designs that stay in place. Each strand has 120 LED lights on it that provide a soft yet bright light to make a perfect setting anywhere. These lights run off of 2 'C' batteries and have control box with three different settings. You can click a button to turn them off or on anytime. There's also a timer on the box the keeps the lights bright for 6 hours and then they dim for the next 18 hours. This makes it extremely convenient where you can just collect them the next day without worrying about them.

I installed these lights in my son's playhouse around the upper borders. They easily wrapped around thumbtacks and stayed securely in place. It took only a few minutes to get them all up! We turned out the big light, and these string lights illuminated everything perfectly in a nice soft, cozy light. It was soft enough that we could watch a movie without bothering us, and was bright enough to see each other and everything else in the playhouse. I think these are the absolute perfect addition to the playhouse! It makes our movie nights out there 100x better!
If you'd like to jazz up an area of your own, you can get some here:
http://www.amztk.com/b019doyn9w

*I was not paid for this review! i received this product free of charge for my honest opinion!

I'm always on the lookout for new ways to prepare food to try to keep my dinners interesting. I've been trying out spiralizers lately, and I must say- this is the best spiralizer I've ever used!The simplicity of it and the ease of use is incredible!

This wonderful spiralizer is very easily assembled. Made of BPA-free durable reinforced plastic, it boasts 4 4 ultra-sharp Japanese 420-grade hardened stainless steel blades accessible via a convenient dial for endless creations. The base has strong suction cups on it to hold it securely in place. To assemble, you simply stick the shaft of the spiked pusher through a hole in the tall suppport. Screw the handle onto the top that sticks out and then pop the whole assembly on top of the base. Place the extremely handy clear catching tray underneath the base and you're all set to go! It takes just a few seconds from start to finish! A very handy little cleaning brush is also included, which is awesome because those blades are really sharp!

Using the spiralizer was incredibly easy! I've never prepared a potato so fast! I found it works better if you slice the ends of the potato so it sits in there a lot better. Using firm pressure, but not much, I just twirled the handle and my potato was done in seconds! The spirals were absolutely perfect and had some really long, continuous strands! This truly is the easiest, fastest spiralizer out there! I love it!
If you'd like a high quality, super fast spiralizer for yourself, you can get one here:
http://www.amazon.com/Brieftons-Vertico-Spiralizer-Vegetable-Spaghetti/dp/B015Q7ESF4

*I was not paid for this review! I received this product free of charge for my honest opinion!

I love cooking and love new ways to prepare food! I've always wanted a quality spiralizer, and I think I may have found it! Brieftons Five Blade Spiralizer has so many options, I can prepare just about anything just by using this nifty machine! This is a wonderful time-saver that helps me prepare veggies in all new ways to help keep dinner interesting!

The Spiralizer comes in a nice bundle package with plenty of options. It takes minimal assembly and can be put together in less than a minute. The base has suction cups that you can easily attach to any surface. You simply take the sliding piece and insert the spiked vegetable pusher into a hole at the top. Screw the handle into the back of the threaded spike piece until it locks into place. That's your vegetable pusher piece assembled! Now, just slide your selected blade into the blade holder until it snaps into place. Pop that whole piece onto the base and you have your cutting part assembled! Very quick and easy, and now you can prepare your veggies! The whole pushing piece slides into the grooved part of the base and easily moves back and forth. The handle is made of reinforced heavy duty stainless steel, which is vital if you'd like it to last more than a few months!

The five blades that come with the spiralizer cover a wide range of different ways to cut your veggies! Each blade is made of ultra-sharp Japanese 420-grade hardened stainless steel for durability to make endless creations.
The blades are:
Angel-hair blade for 2mm ultra thin noodles
Fine-shredding blade for 3mm-wide noodles
Crude-shedding blade for 6mm-wide noodles
Flat blade for ribbon-like noodles
Curly-fry blade for 10mm wide x 6mm thick curly fries

The spiralizer was very easy to use! I chose to use the curly fry blade to make some homemade curly fries! It was little hard to stabilize at first until I moved my hand to the back of the base to stabilize it better. It cut very well and made perfect little spirals. It was very easy to cut the potato and I had my fries cut in about 30 seconds! I didn't have to exert any effort to pushing the potato through, the handle easily helped push it. The fries came out perfectly uniform in thickness and were in nice long spirals. I made some finger lickin' good curly fried that my family loves, and I can't wait to use this awesome spiralizer to try new veggies out! Minimal effort to assemble+ minimal effort to use= maximum results!!
If you'd like an extremely versatile spiralizer for yourself, you can get one here:
http://www.amazon.com/Brieftons-5-Blade-Spiralizer-Vegetable-Gluten-Free/dp/B00WKENSDA/ie=UTF8?m=A2PQTWPWP4OTEY&keywords=spiralizer

**They also have an amazing upright Vertico Spiralizer that I love too!
​#Brieftons

*I was not paid for this review! OI received this product free of charge for my honest opinion!

I have a six year old son, and he's starting to learn how to save money. Lately, I've been teaching him the value of money and how to identify different coins. A wonderful way to do this is with piggy banks! He had an old, tiny piggy bank that we've been building up for a while, adding random pocket change to. Then we got the Money Savvy Pig!

The Money Savvy Pig is a very advanced Piggy Bank that is prefect for teaching kids different ways to save money. The Pig comes in a nice rich blue color and has a sticker sheet with all kinds of different options for goals to work towards. It even had three different choices for the eyes of the pig! The piggy bank is divided into four different sections- Save, Spend, Donate and Invest. Each section has it's own slot up top and a simple turn lock on the bottom of each foot for easy access.

We had a lot of fun transferring all his change to the new piggy bank! We talked about how much we should put into each different section and all the different ways we might use the money after we save up enough. He would love to get a new Paw Patrol cruiser toy, but he's going to have to save up quite a bit. He loved being able to decide which section he wanted to put coins in! This is a wonderful, fun way for kids to learn how to save money! We will be adding to this awesome piggy bank for quite a while to save up to our goals!
If you'd like to teach your kids a fun way to save money, you can get one here:
http://www.msgen.com/assembled/money_savvy_pig.html#.VrE3dWxGWUk

*I was not paid for this review! I received this product free of charge for my honest opinion!

Me and my husband are constantly working outside doing projects on the weekend and we just have to have music while we do stuff. We live in a small town and the local radio stations only play country music from the 60's. I mean seriously, who even listens to some of that stuff anymore? It can be horrible and we end up just turning off the radio and working in silence rather than listen to some of that stuff. Don't get me wrong, we love country music- just not the slow big band opera song type they always play. Sometimes we just need to jam out to get the job done if you know what I mean. iClever makes a portable waterproof speaker that easily connects to our phones with Bluetooth and we can finally jam out!

The iClever portable bluetooth speaker is one powerful little speaker! It's very small and compact, measuring only 3.9 x 2 x 3.5 inches and comes with a handy silicone wristlet to easily take wherever you may need it. It comes with a USB charging cable and an aux jack as well. When you first plug it in to charge, there's a small light that is red. Whenever it is fully charged, the light turns green. It didn't take very long for me to charge it fully, only about an hour or so. The speaker can give you up to 10 hours of continuous play time! On top of the speaker is an on/off button, volume buttons and a play/pause button.

Connecting to my phone was very easy! I simply turned my bluetooth on and then turned the speaker on. When the speaker turned on, it actually surprised me when it talked and said "Power on"! It easily connected and I was able to play music in seconds. The speaker gets surprisingly loud and has incredibly great sound! This really is one powerful speaker! When you turn it off, it says "Power off" as well. This speaker is also waterproof, and while I wasn't brave enough to throw it in a bucket of water, I believe that it is fully capable of surviving if it got sprinkled on while we are working outside. i love the colors and the quality of this incredible speaker!
If you'd like a power-packed bluetooth speaker too, you can get one here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B019GY0UL4

*I was not paid for this review! I received this product free of charge for my honest opinion!

I live in Central Texas and it gets burnin' hot down here! A necessity of everyday life is to have a nice cold drink whenever you need it! I like to keep a jug of cold water in the fridge, but sometimes I prefer something a lot colder with a ton of ice!

The Practico Kitchen ice cube tray is made of a soft, flexible silicone that is also BPA free and FDA approved. They have an embedded steel rim around the edges to prevent flimsiness and spilling. Each cube measures 1.4" across and easily removes by flexing the bottom of the tray and pushing the cube up. Each cube is perfectly formed and the 9 cube compartments are separated and make is easy to remove the cubes without them sticking together if you fill it only to the edges of each square. I love these ice cubes! I throw them in my nightly glass of ice water, and I'm all set to go! They come out so easily! These would also be great to freeze juice or even baby food in!
If you'd like some easy to remove ice cubes in a snazzy tray, you can get some here:https://amzshark.com/r/superbcube9

*I was not paid for this review! I received this product free of charge for my honest opinion!

I live in Central Texas and it gets burnin' hot down here! A necessity of everyday life is to have a nice cold drink whenever you need it! I like to keep a jug of cold water in the fridge, but sometimes I prefer something a lot colder with a ton of ice!

The Practico Kitchen ice cube tray is made of a soft, flexible silicone that is also BPA free and FDA approved. They have an embedded steel rim around the edges to prevent flimsiness and spilling. Each cube measures 2" across and easily removes by flexing the bottom of the tray and pushing the cube up. Each cube is perfectly formed and the cube compartments are separated and make is easy to remove the cubes without them sticking together if you fill it only to the edges of each square.
I love these huge ice cubes! I throw them in a big pitcher of some sweet iced tea, and I'm all set to go! They come out so easily! These would also be great to freeze juice or even baby food in!
If you'd like a set of huge ice cubes that are easy to remove, you can get some here:
https://amzshark.com/r/superbcube4

*I was not paid for this review! I received this product free of charge for my honest opinion!

I have a six year old son that constantly makes messes. I'll clean the living room and less than an hour later, you could never tell that it was spotless a little while ago. I swear, it's like a toy bomb goes off sometimes. He'll almost never pick up unless I bribe him with a treat of some type. He'll just sigh and try to push everything all in one pile in the corner and call it clean. Sillycutie has made a wonderful playmat that saves me so much trouble!

The Sillycutie playmat measures 4 feet across. It is a nice ble color with a white border and is made of a waterproof material that can clean up easily. It easily folds up into a small bundle whenever you are not using it. To use it, you just unfold it and lay flat on the ground wherever your kids going to play. Let them play and have fun with it, keeping their toys on it. When it's time to clean up the toys, you can make a fun game out of throwing everything into the middle of the playmat. I like to race my son and see who gets the most in the middle first. Once all the toys are on the playmat, simply pull a drawstring on the side. The string tightens the white ring, neatly bundling everything up! It's very quick and easy! The playmat also has two mesh pockets on opposite sides of the mat to keep the smaller toys in. A convenient carrying handle is sewn on the side for easy transportation.
This idea is pure genius! I no longer have to argue with my son about picking up his mess and everything get's cleaned up in seconds! I absolutely love this playmat and I'm having my son lay it out every time he plays with his small toys in the living room!
If you'd like an amazing, argue-free solution to cleaning up your kid's toys, you can get one here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BCMYO7Y?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00

About Me

I'm a Texas gal with a wonderful husband, an amazing six year old son, and an adorable newborn baby boy!​My blog is about the best things in life - cooking, books, giveaways and reviews of everyday products! ​This is a PR-friendly blog!!